Provincial Pakistan Lawmaker Kidnapped

Armed men have kidnapped a provincial lawmaker in Pakistan's restive southwestern Balochistan Province.

Family sources said that Sultan Tareen was kidnapped while traveling on a main provincial highway.

The lawmaker's younger brother, Sher Muhammad Tareen, told RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal that his brother was kidnapped near Kuchlak -- a small town on the outskirts of the provincial capital, Quetta -- while he was traveling from Quetta to the nearby city of Pishin.

Security officials said they have launched a search operation in Kuchlak.

So far, no one has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping.

Tareen, a former provincial minister, is a leader of the secular Awami National Party.